“If (he said) you were to place before any manufacturer specimens of all the substances which could be employed in his particular manufacture, and if you could tell him from whence each could be procured, its cost, the quantities in which he might obtain it, and its physical and chemical properties, he would soon be able to select for himself the one best suited for his purposes.  This, however, has never happened in relation to any one art; in every case manufacturers have had to make the best of the materials which chance or accident has brought before them.  It is strange and startling, but nevertheless perfectly true, that even at the present time there are many excellent and abundant productions of nature with which not only our manufacturers, but, in some instances, even our men of science, are wholly unacquainted. There is not a single book published which gives even tolerably complete information on any one of the different classes of vegetable raw produce at present under our consideration.  The truth of these remarks will be felt strongly by any one who takes the trouble to examine any of these great divisions of raw materials.  He will obtain tolerably complete information respecting most of those substances which are known in trade and commerce; but of the greater number of those not known to the broker, he will learn little or nothing.  Men of science, for the most part, look down upon such knowledge.  The practical uses of any substances, the wants and difficulties of the manufacturer, are regarded as mere trade questions, vulgar and low—­simple questions of money.  On the other hand, mere men of business do not feel the want of such knowledge, because, in the first place, they are ignorant of its existence, and secondly, because they do not see how it could aid them or their business; and if it should happen that an enterprising manufacturer desires to learn something of the cultivation and production of the raw material with which he works, he generally finds it quite impossible to obtain any really sound and useful information.  In such cases, if he is a man of energy and of capital, he often is at the cost of sending out a perfectly qualified person to some distant part of the globe, to learn for him those practical details which he desires to know.  This is no uncommon thing; and many cases might be stated, showing the great advantages which have arisen to those who have thus gained a march upon their neighbours.”

The Society of Arts, appreciating the importance of from time to time encouraging the introduction of new and improved products from our Indian and Colonial Possessions, has offered many gold medals as premiums for a great variety of staples from abroad.

The Great Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations brought together an immense variety of productions from tropical regions, of which the English public were comparatively ignorant.  Attracting public attention, as these necessarily did, information on the best modes of cultivating and manufacturing them will be peculiarly valuable to the colonists, and is as eagerly sought after by many brokers, merchants and manufacturers at home.